130 HUMAN LIFE IN RUSSIA
its invariable practice on occasions of this kind and pointed
to its constitution, which provided for the self-government of
the autonomous states. Now again the claim was made that,
in contrast to the non-Communist states, the Soviet Union
offered the utmost liberty to its nations and citizens. The
Finnish attempt to succour their brethren on the basis of the
provisions of the Treaty of Dorpat thus proved a failure. (After
Russia had joined the League and had accepted the Covenant
no further attempt was made.)
The fate of the Finns settled in the environs of Leningrad,
where they form a pure minority, is even worse than that of
the Karelians. Since 1931 this body, which the Russian statistics
put at 148,000 persons, has been made the victim of a deliberate
policy of extermination. With the beginning of collectiviza-
tion began here, too, the expulsion of the kulaks. Later, the
inhabitants of entire villages were banished to the Arctic
regions; by 1932 the number of persons banished was 18,000,
i.e. some 15 per cent of the population of the area. This
policy was interrupted for a time when the public opinion of
the world began to turn its attention to Moscow's methods,
only to be resumed with greater intensity at the end of 1934.
The Finns have made the interesting discovery that whenever
Moscow has succeeded in settling its relations with the outer
world, either by the conclusion of treaties or by other means,
the policy of internal repression is followed with renewed
vigour on the strength of the new security afforded by improved
external relations. To-day the Finns of Ingermanland are faced
with utter destruction.
Why this is so may perhaps be seen from an event related by
refugees whose veracity there is no reason to doubt. In 1931,
when the Finns first began to be banished in large numbers,
some hundreds were collected at a station some miles from
Leningrad under a strong military guard. When the train left
the station these people, as well as the local inhabitants who
had gathered to bid them farewell, began spontaneously to sing